Harewood Champion Trees!

In the UK our wonderful tree heritage is recorded within the Tree Register, a Registered Charity with a unique database of over 150,000 of our most notable Trees.

Recording a veteran oak tree in the grounds of Harewood House

Harewood's trees are a beautiful and important feature of the landscape which surrounds the House. Following our latest Tree Register Report we can now say we are home to several Champion Trees!

We have a Grand Fir growing in the Lakeside Gardens (SE of the Cascade beside the path towards the Walled Garden) which has been recorded as the tallest in Yorkshire. It is the best the Tree Inspector has ever seen and looks as if it wants to grow a bit taller too!

We also have a rare Japanese oak (planted by Her Majesty Queen Alexandra on 8th July 1908) in the grounds; it is certainly a champion tree for Yorkshire and maybe a Champion Tree for the whole of the British Isles, we'll wait for final confirmation and update the post here!

Several other trees become County Champions for Yorkshire including:

• Grecian Fir in the West Garden
• Purple Bean Tree south of the Cascade, by the Stupa 
• Katsura Tree in the Himalayan Garden
• Leylandii south of the Lake, near the large Sessile Oak
• Eucryphia in the Archery Border which is remarkably large for Yorkshire! 
• Japanese Big-leaved Magnolia in the Himalayan Garden
• London Plane in the Bird Garden 
• Japanese Cherry beside the path to the Church
• Scarlet Oak on the North Front opposite the House
• Daimyo Oak on the North Front opposite the House

Please note: some trees pictured below are not in areas currently accessible to visitors. Please stay to the marked footpaths and access areas when you visit Harewood. 

Estimating the age of a large conifer

Gathering data for the tree register of two ancient oaks four to five centuries old

Measuring the girth of an old ash tree

Recording details of a veteran oak tree at Harewood

Using a hypsometer to measure the height of a tree

Please note: some trees pictured above are not in areas currently accessible to visitors. Please stay to the marked footpaths and access areas when you visit Harewood.

The Scarlet Oak on the North Front is exceeded only by a few in southern England, and the Dawn Redwood south of the lake is a particularly beautiful tree and almost the tallest this far north.

One of our Rhododendrons to the south of the lake is the largest hardy hybrid of any kind the Tree Register Inspector had ever seen!

Harewood is a wonderful place to explore the landscape and spot some of these wonderful trees... A new walks booklet is available from the Harewood Information Centre which will take you on 4 walks of discovery in the Grounds at Harewood...and we hope to produce something similar focussing on the trees at Harewood...watch this space for details!

You can collect a guide to some of the wonderful trees in the West Garden at Harewood during Autumn Glory week (October Half Term) - the trees are at their most colourful and vivid at this time of year...

Read more about the Grounds at Harewood and our Autumn Glory event on our website...